Most people would agree that a great biography of Eric Cantona could never be written by a British writer.
The task required a sophisticated UK-based French football journalist with a literary bent.
After interviewing 200 people over three years, Philippe Auclair is able to give us a broad picture and well as a detailed narrative. He tells us about the city of Marseilles, sketches in the French FA’s efforts to identify and nurture emerging talent, and gets some wonderful material from Guy Roux, his shrewd old coach at Auxerre.
He played for six French clubs but was on loan at three of those, and the author gradually convinces us that the Manchester Cantona is the same man as the French Cantona, still vulnerable, volatile and enigmatic, but happier, more respected, more loved, and therefore able to play a bigger role on a much grander stage
For me the most fascinating thread of the story is the way Cantona’s career with France interlaced with his club career. He turned down the chance to rejoin the French national team in January 1996, thereby missing the opportunity to take part in Euro 96 and, perhaps, the World Cup victory of 1998. That decision was made because of special circumstances which existed around him at that time.
He signed for Leeds United on February 1, 1992, won the title, scored a hat-trick against Liverpool in the Charity Shield, and then on November 27, 1993, joined Manchester United , a club that had not won the league title since 1967. That’s right : United had not won the title since 1967. Arsenal had won it in 1989 and 1991 but Manchester United had not won it since 1967. Always commendably balanced, Auclair compares the personalities of Howard Wilkinson and Sir Alex Ferguson in a way that is fair to both men.
As a London-based journalist who only saw Manchester United at Arsenal, Spurs and QPR, I often said that United would never win the league with Mark Hughes at centre forward, even though Hughes had the best first touch of any British forward since Peter Osgood.
At the time it seemed to me that Cantona pushed Hughes forward another fifteen yards. Crucially, I think, Hughes and Cantona could not be bullied. Both had power as well as flair, physicality as well as finesse.
Even at a high level, football is not fiendishly complicated. It’s the biggest sport in the world because it is the simplest, and, in remarks after league titles had been won, Cantona explained how that team worked : “I loved to pass the ball where nobody expected it, provided it produced a result. The game becomes more fluid, more surprising. When you know how to do that, you have ten times more possibilities because the players around you know that you can put the ball anywhere at any time. So, they look for spaces. Mark Hughes loved to receive the ball with his back to goal and give it back – we could combine in small spaces. Roughly speaking, Manchester’s game-plan was : use Hughes as a focal point, I get the ball back, and before I’ve even received it, the two wingers have already started their run.”
As Ryan Giggs said, “Eric would receive the ball, turn in one movement and lay it off. Because of his vision, you just knew he’d read your run and play you in.”
Cantona, the King of Old Trafford, played his last game for Manchester United more than 12 years ago, on May 11, 1997 but the fans still chant his name.
This enthralling, nuanced biography is a fitting tribute to a huge, complicated talent who transformed a team and a club. It’s the finest football book I’ve read since Pete Davies’s 1990 World Cup classic, All Played Out, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that it has just made the William Hill longlist of 13.
Sometimes, reading an authoritative book like this, we glimpse a deal that never happened, the moment when a great player can go to a great club but chooses to go somewhere else, but we don’t hear about it until 20 years later.
In 1988, when Cantona was about to leave Auxerre and join Marseilles, Silvio Berlusconi came in with a late bid. He wanted Cantona to play with Marco van Basten at AC Milan. That partnership might have been magical but the Frenchman had given his word he would sign for his hometown club.
Cantona – The Rebel Who Would be King
Philippe Auclair (Macmillan £17.99 but only £9.89 on Amazon)